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Popular ?Praja? was born in Mostar (ex Yugoslavia, now Bosnia and Herzegovina) on November 27. 1951. It is curiosity that he didn?t touch a basketball until he was 19. He played football, handball? He was a local football hero, and got his nickname ?Praja? based on the famous football player Dane Praja who played for Velez Mostar.
But then, one day, suddenly, some people brought an orange ball to the schoolyard. That was something new, a whole new world. Praja decided just to look in the beginning, but the first time he touched the ball ? love was born.
He had an unbelievable talent, perfect physical predispositions, his body was simply made for this game ? and since then none could stop him to become the best.
Praja started with the other kids in local ?Lokomotiva?, but his talent was fascinating. Just several months after that, Partizan legendary head-coach and even today living legend of Serbian basketball, Ranko Zarevica, saw the potential of this kid, and brought him to Belgrade immediately. That was in 1971 ? Praja was 20 years old.
Dalipagic stayed in Belgrade for the next 11 years. He played for Partizan 305 matches and scored 8,278 points (27.1 pts per game) which makes him the all-time leading scorer in the club?s history.
So, imagine this situation: 3 years after he even touched a basketball ? Praja was playing in the final match of European Championship in Barcelona and won the Gold medal! New era could begin. You can ask how it is possible ? but the only truth is that Praja was 30 years in front of his time ? he was unique.
Few months ago, Euroleague.net tried to describe Dalipagic the best they could, and they used those words: ?To understand what kind of player Dalipagic was, you have to imagine the following combination: the shooting skills of Pedja Stojakovic, the explosiveness of Andres Nocioni, the rebounding skills of Felipe Reyes and the speed of Sarunas Marciulionis?. ? He might have been even better?
Next year (1974) Praja had his debut in the World Championship. The Silver medal was just an overture.
In his first 7 seasons in Partizan, Dalipagic had 33.7 pts per game! In 1976 he won the first and the only domestic title with Partizan, but culmination was 1978 when he won ?Radivoje Korac Cup?. In the final match he scored 50 points!
Dalipagic scored 50 or more points 15 times in his career! He made his and Italian record (which stands even today) while he was playing in Italy for Verona, when he scored 70 points in a match against Virtus. He was 36 years old then.
Also, he holds the Italian playoff career scoring record with an average of 34.7 points per game.
Praja was named as the best European basketball player of the year 3 times: in 1977, 1978 and 1980. The Italian basketball monthly "Giganti del basket" elected him as the best player in Europe for 1977: Dalipagic obtained 410 votes, far ahead of Kresimir Cosic, Miki Berkovitz, Popispil and Dragan Kicanovic.
While playing in Italy, he was the best scorer of the league five times, and according to the scored points per game average, he is the best scorer of Italian Championships ever.
The Philippines, 1978, World Championship. Unforgivable night, unforgivable match ? one of the most beautiful games ever played. The Big final USSR?Yugoslavia. Yugoslavia won 83:82 ? Dalipagic was named MVP and the best scorer of the whole competition.
Drazen Dalipagic holds one more FIBA record ? he won 4 World Championship medals. On international level Dalipagic won 12 medals.
Surely the biggest kick in his career was the unforgettable match on World Championship in Spain (1986) in semi-final duel against USSR. Yugoslavia had advantage of 9 pts 48 seconds till the end. But, then, incredible USSR players with Sabonis, Homicus and Valters scored 3 times in a row for 3 and won after overtime ? that was a unique picture till December 2004 when Tracy McGrady scored 13 pts in last 35 seconds, for Houston in the game against San Antonio.
Young center Vlade Divac made then 2 incredible mistakes, he sat frozen on the bench after the game, but Praja said to him: ?Hey kid, you?ll kick them next time, be sure in that?.
But, even then Dalipagic won the bronze medal ? in that match, for bronze medal, against Brazil, he scored 30 points and that was his last game for the National team ? he was 34 years old back them.
Dalipagic was a European Champion with his National team 3 times, only Predrag Danilovic has better record with 4 titles.
How good he was can be described from one fact: he is the best Yugoslav scorer ever on World Championships, with 562 pts. Currently, the best Serbian scorer in this category, from active players, is Dejan Bodiroga with 132 pts!
After his playing career, Praja was a coach for a short period in Gorica (Italy), team manager in Red Star, and President of Partizan.
Today, Drazen Dalipagic is a team manager of Atlas (Belgrade basketball club), a member of the Euroleague Technical Commission, and promoter of AND1 in Serbia.
The NBA
Every story about Drazen Dalipagic can not be written without comments on his NBA destiny.
After the Olympic Games in Montreal (1976) when Yugoslavian basketball team won the silver medal (lost in the final against USA 74:95), Drazen Dalipagic got an invitation to visit camp of Boston Celtics during the summer. Praja accepted an offer and made a show in America.
Among 30 players he showed incredible form. Red Auerbach, a creator of the Celtics dream team, was impressed, he desperately wanted Dalipagic in his squad, but there was one LITTLE barrier.
Simply, in that period FIBA and NBA were not related on any way ? that meant that if Praja wanted to play in the NBA he couldn?t play in competitions which were organized by FIBA. In other words, he had to leave the Yugoslav National team. That team and people in it (Delibasic, Kicanovic, Slavnic?) were his whole life. That was unique chance for Praja to become the first European player ever to play in an NBA team, but he decided to come back ? and he never regretted ? he became Olympic and World Champion after that ? he became a legend.
10th September 2004 was the day when Praja was elected into the Basketball Hall of fame in Springfield together with other basketball legends such as: Clyde Drexler, Jerry Colangelo, Bill Sharman, Lynette Woodard and Maurice Stokes.
Dalipagic facts
- Position: Small Forward
- Birth date: 27.11.1951
- Height: 6-foot-6
- Weight: 235 pounds
- Technical School, Mostar, Yugoslavia
- Teachers College, Belgrade, Yugoslavia
- 1970 - Started playing basketball in the age of 19
- 1971 ? Came to Belgrade to play for Partizan
- 1973 ? European Champion in Barcelona
- 1974 ? Silver medal on World Championship in Puerto Rico
- 1975 ? European Champion
- 1976 ? Silver medal on Olympic Games in Montreal, domestic title
- 1977 ? European Champion, European Player of the Year
- 1978 ? World Championship title from Manila, Radivoje Korac Cup title, domestic Cup title, European player of the year
- 1979 ? Yugoslavian army, bronze medal on European Championship
- 1980 ? Olympic Champion, European player of the year, signed for Carrera Venice
- 1981 - Silver medal on European Championship, return to Partizan
- 1982 ? Bronze medal from the World Championship in Columbia, signed for Real Madrid
- 1983 - signed for Udine
- 1984 - Bronze medal on Olympic Games
- 1985 ? Return to Venice
- 1986 - Bronze medal from the World Championship in Spain
- 1978 ? signed for Verona
- 1990 ? signed for Red Star
25.12.2004
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.jpg "Vlade Divac ends one and strts new - more important career (mozesiti.org).")
